American Wounded by Police in Sri Lankan Capital

Police gunfire wounded an American motorist who failed to heed an order to halt during a power blackout in this troubled island nation, police said Friday.

Authorities said the Thursday power failure apparently resulted from flooding at the main generating plant.

Police Chief Neil Weerasinghe said the American, identified as Matthew Flanagan, was wounded in the face but that he did not know the seriousness of the wound.

Flanagan is in Sri Lanka on a temporary contract funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, U.S. Embassy spokesman Bob Proctor said. His hometown was not known.

Weerasinghe said Colombo was under a police alert because of information about a possible attack on the presidential mansion by Tamil-speaking separatist guerrillas.

Flanagan was driving his vehicle Thursday toward the mansion against the flow of traffic and did not respond to police orders to stop, the police chief said. Flanagan was returning from the airport, where he had dropped off his wife, police said.

Meanwhile, President Junius Jayewardene said the government will, if necessary, declare martial law to end a violent campaign by the Tamil minority for a separate homeland.

The government official said Jayewardene told members of his United National Party they must be present in their districts and must convince people to fight terrorism.

“He said this was necessary because the army and police alone could not tackle the terrorist threat, particularly as attacks came stealthily. He stressed the need for maximum vigilance,” said the official, who spoke on condition he not be identified.

Earlier, Finance Minister Ronnie de Mel said the country would spend an extra $72 million on defense this year above the budgeted figure of $131 million.

Earlier in the day, Parliament began debate on another 30-day extension of the emergency powers decree the government imposed two years ago to help security forces fight Tamil separatists.

Guerrillas fighting for a separate Tamil homeland in the northern Jaffna Peninsula area have escalated their activity since April. The vast majority of Sri Lanka’s 15 million people are Sinhalese. Most Tamils are Hindus, and most Sinhalese are Buddhists.